Some big stars keep playing till their impact on the game fades away slowly overtime. Maradona, Romario, Bebeto, Peter Shilton are some examples. I remember Lothar Matthaus in an interview stating that one of the mistakes he did in his career was to play too late for the national side, especially the Euro 2000 when Germany had paled appearance and linked to his name. However, the ultimate example is Rivaldo, that I am still surprised he is still playing till now. Also
Other big stars retire at the top and at one of their peaks, Roberto Baggio, Pele, Gary Lineker, Franz Beckenbauer are other names with the ultimate example Zidane, and irregardless of the stupid headbutt at the World Cup final, he will always be remembered with the way he knocked out Spain, Brazil and Portugal.
I think the second strategy is the best to end a career, (even though if I ever been a footballer, I would never quit the game till they pull me out of the field by force).
One of the very good examples of retiring at best, is the Egyptian legendary player, Mahmoud Al-Khateeb, who is considered best ever in the history of that nation. He also had one of best attitudes of football, down to earth and always played his best. He was selected as a member of the international committee for fairplay as he played 450 games without any yellow or red cards.
He won five African titles with his team Al-Ahly, one African title with his national team, participated in two Olympic games (80 and 84) and was selected as African Player of the year by France Football in 1983. In 2007, African Federation selected top 50 players in last 50 years: Roger Milla was first, and Al-Khateeb was second.
Notice that he is a right footed player, also notice his passion that was always the same during his career,
and here is the last 15 minutes in a game, he entered as a sub in an important African game, and he showed that he got the touch of a class of a master (he was a striker, but many times he returns back to the midfield)
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